It’s over three months since the poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor floated his pocket organisation Jan Suraaj coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 in 2024. His prime motive was to contest all the 243 seats in Bihar during the 2025 Assembly polls slated for October this year.
However, during the party launch, he did not get as much coverage as reams of newsprint have, of late, gone into covering his fast-unto-death agitation, his dramatic arrest and equally dramatic release in Patna on Monday.
So, has the Nitish Kumar regime infused a new lease of life into a new player in the Bihar polity by getting him arrested in a non-issue case? Or, as the BJP leader and former Union Minister Shahnawaz Hussain says, “PK is an event manager and is managing events for himself to hog the limelight.” Or, as the Opposition has charged PK with working as the BJP’s B-team just like Arvind Kejriwal was propped up by the saffron brigade in 2012 during the Anna movement.
Whatever may be the case, it’s an undisputed fact that PK is hogging the national headlines, and the NDA regime has also played its role in making a hero out of a non-hero.
‘NITISH’S BLUNDER’
Political analysts say it was wrong on the part of Nitish to get a person arrested who was holding a peaceful agitation in the form of fast-unto-death beneath Mahatma Gandhi’s statue at the historic Gandhi Maidan. For those not well versed, it is the same Gandhi Maidan from where Nitish’s mentor late Jayaprakash Narayan, a veteran Socialist, launched the Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution) movement against a mighty Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the mid-70s.
“Apparently, someone wrongly briefed Nitish about PK. All he had to do was to get PK shifted from Gandhi Maidan to the designated area of agitation in Gardanibagh. This way, PK would not have become a hero championing the cause of BPSC (Bihar Public Service Commission) examinees who have been demanding the cancellation of the PT (Preliminary Test) examination held on December 13,” averred senior political analyst Ajay Kumar.
By getting him arrested and releasing him unconditionally, the Bihar Government has given PK a stick to beat the NDA Government with. After all, the BPSC issue was not such a major issue till the Nitish government faltered and used lathi-charge and water cannon to disperse those students who were holding peaceful protests,” said the analyst, although he disagreed with the students’ demand.
“The BPSC has asked the agitating persons to show it any evidence of paper leak before demanding the cancellation of the PT examination. And the centres where there were reports of wrong-doing, a re-test was done recently. The matter should end there,” he added.
PK, however, is unfazed. He says his agitation in support of students will continue relentlessly. “If raising a voice against injustice is a crime, I will continue to do such crimes,” said PK in Patna on Tuesday shortly before he fell ill and was rushed to a private hospital.
EMOTIVE ISSUE
PK, who launched his pad-yatra in October 2022 and reportedly covered more than 3,000 km in 15 districts, has got an emotional issue (in the form of BPSC) to stay connected with the students. “Who has stopped RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav (who remains confined to his room and interacts through X (Earlier Twitter) only or, for that matter Rahul Gandhi, from championing the cause of agitating BPSC examinees?” asked PK, who, in terms of mileage has left his peers like Tejashwi and Pappu Yadav far behind when it comes to hitting the streets.
A master poll strategist, who worked with the BJP and planned its campaign in 2014 through his team members of IPAC (Indian Political Action Committee), followed by his association with Nitish and Lalu for the 2015 Assembly polls (where Nitish gave the BJP a crushing and decisive defeat), PK has worked with leaders of all hues. From working with Stalin in Tamil Nadu to Jagan Mohan Reddy in Andhra and Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal (in 2021), PK knows how rich the political dividends could be if one hits the street on emotive issues.
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